In Peru on Thursday (El Expreso) beware the tides of march --
maybe higher than yer used to . . . or flash floods — flood watch chez nous, as deluge em- pluviates us after almost nothin this month. but that’s . . . nothin: south america washes away: in peru, constant rains “destruyen casas y carreteras” — 7k humans affected, 2500 “daminifcadas” (harmed, damaged, victimized, if not quite con-damned); el oro province, ecaudor: “a great quantity of mud and rocks swept into the streets of chilla, caving in some sections of the sewer system”; storms pummel n. bolivia, swelling 3 major rivers — roads impassable, military saving people & livestock, 2500 families affected; & landslides kill 2 humans in colombia, amidst massive overflowings ("seems like kind of a big deal -- funny the news outlets here are not covering it . . .") even as rivers of rain scour windward oahu, damaging water systems, so (paradoxically) water everywhere, nor any drop to drink (well, almost: “we have a big tank but the tank is getting down to the bottom”); boil orders, etc. -- part of system punishing the state: on kauai’s n. shore, citizens start a ferry service across the river when a mudslide slathered the road ("funny weather over yonder in hi- warrior; glad it ain’t happening here") & winter storm xylia (xylia?) closes interstate hiways, grounds 1000s of planes, whacks power for 43k customers across the rockies, while spawning tornadoes in texas but the disaster is just the beginning of the disaster — then there’s the re- covery: 1.8 m nicaraguans desperately need aid, ½ m w/o clean water or sanitation, 4 mo. after eta and iota smashed into the caribbean coast; & 2 m humans still in urgent need of humanitarian . . . anything . . . 2 yrs after idai & kenneth massacred hundreds & scourged the mozambiquan coast, not long after this yer verse-chronicle got going ("why doesn’t someone do something? someone who’s in charge . . . ") & of course there’s fire: “n. thailand is choking on toxic air” as its hills & mountains are ablaze w/ forest fires” = “hazardous” a.q.i.; while “millions of trees were burnt to ashes” in pakistani punjab, as fire “stretched around 5000 km-long terrain” (~3k mi) ("this is maybe getting serious . . . ") plus dry & hot: “megadrought” parches 77% of western u.s.; central queensland growers losing > 1 m dollars, as other parts of state get drenched; meanwhile, record hi’s in boston & new england & i forgot to mention: amazon rainforest net contributor (probably) to global heating, sez study by 30 scientists sponsored by natl. geo ("well what do you know about that . . .you learn something new every day!")
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |